Dear friends
Warm greetings for the New Year!
Please see below a Call for Papers for a series of panels organised by
Eileen Pittaway and I for the 12th International Association for Forced
Migration, which will be held in Cyprus from 28 June to 2 July 2009.
Martin Jones and Sivitri Taylor are also part of this initiative - they
have a specific focus on Southeast Asia.
Note that the deadline for submission of abstracts is 10 February 2009.
Participants of the abstracts selected will be responsible for finding
their own funds to attend this conference.
Please forward to those who might be interested.
Warm wishes
Alice
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Protection Gaps in the Asia Pacific Region
Panels for the 12th International Association for Forced Migration
Conference hosted by the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, June 28 to July
2, 2009.
In recognition of the recent founding of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights
Network, the conveners of this series of panels, Eileen Pittaway of the
Center for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales, and Alice M.
Nah of the Asian Research Institute and the Sociology Department,
National University of Singapore, wish to provide a space for the
discussion of refugee rights protection in the Asia Pacific region.
Over the past several decades, conflict, violence and human rights
abuses have led to the displacement of large numbers of peoples in the
Asia Pacific region, most of whom seek asylum in adjacent countries.
While efforts have been made by host states, the UNHCR, and the
international community to provide protection, assistance and durable
solutions for refugees, serious protection gaps remain. Both in and
outside of camps, refugees are subject to, inter alia, violence, denial
of their right to work, poor housing conditions, and limited access to
basic services. Those in urban and rural areas are often treated as
irregular migrants and are vulnerable to arrest, detention, punishment
for immigration offences and deportation. Some languish indefinitely in
detention centers and prisons without access to protection mechanisms.
Poverty and desperation result in them taking on dangerous, low paying
jobs, including sex work, without basic protection of their labour
rights. Forced to rely on smugglers and corrupt law enforcement
officials, they are often vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.
Desperate for protection that they cannot find in their country of first
asylum, some have embarked on onward movements to other countries in and
outside of the region.
This panel is interested in papers examining the social processes, legal
frameworks, and political environments that underpin the vulnerabilities
of refugees in the Asia Pacific Region. We are interested in the
critical analysis of protection gaps, exploring why certain individuals
and populations remain marginalized in the international protection
regime. We are looking for papers that examine specific contexts and
populations and that analyse these vis-à-vis contemporary protection
discourses, policies and initiatives, for example, concerning mixed
migration flows, protracted refugee situations, refugees in urban areas,
and women and girls at risk. Participants are encouraged to discuss and
debate how these protection gaps can be addressed through changes in the
international protection regime. Submissions from all disciplines are
welcome; all papers should address concrete situations in the Asia
Pacific region and offer recommendations for reform.
Interested participants should submit a 300-word abstract of their
proposed paper and brief biographical details to Eileen Pittaway and
Alice M. Nah at [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] by 10
February 2009. Selected papers will be solicited for publication.
More information on IASFM and IASFM12 can be found on www.iasfm.org and
www.iasfmconference.org
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